We recently held a webinar presenting recently published research that reveals, through an analysis of cases, that women suspected of killing their newborn children are some of the most vulnerable in society and that infanticide is not just a historical issue but one that has modern implications. Women are less likely to commit a violent crime, but maternal-infant homicide is an enduring form of offending that needs to be understood in a wider social context. We will discuss legal, policy, and gender issues that arise in criminal justice and the implications for legal professionals when women are suspected of killing newborn children or harming foetuses. The Webinar was presented by Felicity Gerry QC and Dr Emma Milne Felicity Gerry QC is well known for defending mothers, including those accused of homicide and endangerment offences in relation to their young children. Dr. Emma Milne is Assistant Professor in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at Durham University Law School. The focus of her research is the social, legal, and cultural controls and regulations of all women. She is currently looking at attitudes and perspectives held by legal professionals to women suspected of causing the death of their infants. Her project is funded by the BA/Leverhulme Small Grants.   To ensure you don’t miss out on future events please register for our newsletter by clicking here.

Join us for an event discussing the research led by Dr Rebecca Helm at the University of Exeter into pressure on children to plead guilty. Penelope Gibbs of Transform Justice, who advised on the research, will explore the findings with Dr Helm. We will also hear about a practitioner’s experience of representing children in the criminal courts from Mel Stooks. Hosted by Libertas Chambers in partnership with YPA, Transform Justice and University of Exeter. Panel: Penelope Gibbs – Director, Transform Justice Dr. Rebecca K. Helm – Senior Lecturer in Law and Clinic Solicitor, University of Exeter Mel Stooks – Partner and Supervising Solicitor, GT Stewart Solicitors & Advocates, YPA Committee Member Chaired by: Marie Spenwyn – Barrister, Libertas Chambers, YPA Committee Member Click Here to Register Today To ensure you don’t miss out on future events please register for our newsletter by clicking here.

Event Complete – To view the event video recording head to our Event news post Sign up open for our next Libertas Webinar – details below This webinar considers the current state of the law on sentencing mothers, with reference to research on the experiences of children whose mothers are sentenced to imprisonment in England and Wales. Drawing on detailed empirical research with children, caregivers, and Crown Court judiciary, the research presented in this webinar provides insight into the reasons for the differentiated treatment and its implications, and asks why do we send mothers to prison at all? Presented by Felicity Gerry QC and Dr Shona Minson Felicity Gerry QC defends mothers as accused persons, including recently appealing sentences for mothers whose children were shockingly taken into prison in the context of financial offending. Dr Shona Minson is currently a British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Centre for Criminology at the University of Oxford and author of the book Maternal Sentencing and the Rights of the Child. Register today – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/180796074927 To ensure you don’t miss out on future events please register for our newsletter by clicking here.

Event Complete – To view the event video recording head to our Event news post Sign up open for our next Libertas Webinar – details below This webinar presents recently published research that reveals, through an analysis of cases, that women suspected of killing their newborn children are some of the most vulnerable in society and that infanticide is not just a historical issue but one that has modern implications. Women are less likely to commit a violent crime, but maternal-infant homicide is an enduring form of offending that needs to be understood in a wider social context. We will discuss legal, policy, and gender issues that arise in criminal justice and the implications for legal professionals when women are suspected of killing newborn children or harming foetuses. Presented by Felicity Gerry QC and Dr Emma Milne Felicity Gerry QC is well known for defending mothers, including those accused of homicide and endangerment offences in relation to their young children. Dr. Emma Milne is Assistant Professor in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at Durham University Law School. The focus of her research is the social, legal, and cultural controls and regulations of all women. She is currently looking at attitudes and perspectives held by legal professionals to women suspected of causing the death of their infants. Her project is funded by the BA/Leverhulme Small Grants. Register today – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/179957195817 To ensure you don’t miss out on future events please register for our newsletter by clicking here.

Professor Felicity Gerry QC will be joined by Dr Susie Hulley and Dr Tara Young in this expert webinar highlighting the role of the law, and its agents, in generating silence among young suspects. Drawing on a study by Dr Hulley and Dr young, of serious multi-handed violence and ‘joint enterprise’ as a legal response, this webinar highlights the role of the law, and its agents, in generating silence among young suspects. These Young people face a precarious trap, as their silence is interpreted as guilt by the police, propelling them towards charge. Their study concludes that to avoid over-charging and to encourage Young people with knowledge of serious violence to talk, structural change is needed. The system must reverse the legal rules regarding silence and reform the law on secondary liability to reduce the legal risks of talking. Felicity Gerry QC is well known as defending a range of ‘joint enterprise’ cases, most recently in murder in 3 criminal trials involving young accused people aged 18, 13 and 17 in one of which a ‘no comment’ interview was excluded and another is on appeal on the issue of extensions of liability through adverse inferences. Dr Susie Hulley is a Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge and is on the Advisory Board for the Prison Reform Trust’s Building Futures Programme. She has worked on a range of research studies including a study of the experiences of prisoners serving very long sentences from a young age. Dr Tara Young is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research at Kent University. The central focus of her research is on marginalised young people as perpetrators and victims of anti-social behaviour and violent crime. Register today – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/169434369761 To ensure you don’t miss out on future events please register for our newsletter by clicking here. This event has now finished, if you’d like, you can view the recording of it here.    

DNA gets in places you wouldn’t always expect it to – when a criminal case is in full swing this can cause issues as all it takes are a few mistakes and your DNA ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Our very own Felicity Gerry QC goes through this idea and many more in this webinar alongside a cast of other professionals. You can view the webinar below.

We recently held a webinar delving into the topic of gross negligent manslaughter – taking a deeper look into medical, drug, and food-related deaths. Read the article relating to this event here. Presented by Professor Felicity Gerry QC and Dr Oliver Quick – Felicity defended the appeal in Rebelo where the Court of Appeal of England and Wales considered manslaughter in the context of a diet pill bought online and the scope of women’s autonomy in eating disorders. She has long experience of appearing in cases of homicide involving complex legal and medical issues. Oliver Quick is a Reader in Law and Co-Director of the Centre for Health, Law and Society at the University of Bristol. He has written widely about law and patient safety with particular expertise on gross negligence manslaughter. His research was heavily cited in the Independent Review of Gross Negligence Manslaughter and Culpable Homicide established by the General Medical Council. If you’d like to find out more sign up for our newsletter here

Siobhan Grey QC will be joined by Professor Michael Kopelman, Neuropsychiatrist and Professor Chris Brewin, Clinical Psychologist to discuss the accuracy of memory in the courtroom, memory disorders and how neuro-imaging – CT scans and MRI scans – is being relied upon at trial. This talk will give a brief introduction to some of the ways in which clinical neuroscience is implicated in the criminal courts, with particular reference to memory disorders and incorporating issues such as amnesia for offences, automatism, alcohol-related memory disorder, and fitness to plead. It will give a basic account of how such cases are assessed, including neuro-imaging, and the problems which can arise. Siobhan Grey QC, is a criminal defence advocate who has led in many murder cases where the central issues involved memory disorders and has relied upon neuroimaging to show a deterioration in the brain. Ms Grey QC has recently succeeded in having a murder conviction quashed in the Court of Appeal on the grounds of fresh evidence and she is currently instructed in appellate cases before the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court of Appeal and the Privy Council. She is also instructed to lead for the Defence in forthcoming murder cases. Professor Michael Kopelman is Emeritus Professor of Neuropsychiatry, Kings College, London. He ran a Neuropsychiatry and Memory Disorders Clinic for 25 years at St Thomas’s Hospital, London. He was President of the British Academy of Forensic Sciences. He has written on many aspects of amnesia and memory disorders – from the nature of cognitive deficits in neurological disease to amnesia in crime. His medico-legal work has included a variety of criminal, extradition, death row, civil and Court of Appeal cases. Professor Chris Brewin is Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London. In 2013 he received the Robert S. Laufer Memorial Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. He is acknowledged as a leading expert in trauma and memory and his medicolegal work has focused on memory for historic sexual abuse. Register today – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/memory-and-brain-disorders-in-criminal-trials-registration-158397999681 To ensure you don’t miss out on future events please register for our newsletter by clicking here.